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Friday, July 29, 2011

Who knew?

So, apparently deer like marigolds...

I have already mentioned that the woods around "the witch's hut" are infested with overly aggressive deer, but one of the coolest things is how tame they are... We have a family of four, a full grown doe, a yearling buck and twin spotted babies, who often graze in our front yard. They are so comfortable that the babies (barely three feet tall they are so young) will often just wander around by themselves and even get right up on the doorstep.

So this morning I was pouring a fresh cup of coffee and looked out to see one baby deer nibbling peacefully on the grass, then lean over, chomp off a marigold flower, have another bite of grass, move to the next marigold, and on and on until every plant was de-flowered...

...and I really wasn't sure how to react. Should I be angry? After all, I spent a good 6 hours digging all the weeds out of that neglected witch-garden, then made a couple trips out for new plants and have been diligently watering them. Should I be worried? I don't know if marigolds are poisonous... but I really wasn't planning for the deer to use my garden as a banquet hall, so it didn't cross my mind to ask at the plant store. Should I chase it away? I know from experience my beagle will chase anything she's *allowed* to, but is very good when I tell her, 'no'... and she's insanely curious about the deer, especially when they are standing four feet away through a screen door. Should I laugh? It was pretty comical how the little guy was taking a bite from the lawn, a bite from the flowers, then another from the lawn...

And in the end, I did nothing. Just sipped my coffee and watched until every last orange and red flower had been delicately devoured.

Not every experience can be classified as good, bad, funny, or otherwise. Sometimes it just ends up being a good story to tell someone else, and hopefully, a memory that will give you a smile when it pops up.

So what do I want my own stories to be? How do I want my readers to remember them? What about you, do you all ask yourselves questions like this?

1 comment:

Good question. Never thought about it. But since you mention it.... I think I like people to be entertained by my stories, and for some, to make them think. As to the deer, they wouldn't keep eating them if the flowers were bad for them (too many "them") anyway saw this in the morning but a busy day so just getting to it now